Like No Other
by SkyGem
Summary: One soul split into eight bodies. That's what they're like. It's not a nice feeling, when those pieces are separate. But when they finally come together…it's a feeling like no other. Warning: slightly OOC. Fluff. Three-shot. No pairings.
1. The Meadow

Summary: One soul split into eight bodies. That's what they're like. It's not a nice feeling, when those pieces are separate. But when they finally come together…it's a feeling like no other. Warning: slightly OOC. Fluff. Two-shot. No pairings.

SkyGem: I was in the mood to write something all gooey and mushy, and this is what came about. I hope y'all like, ne?

* * *

"Okay, minna-san, I'd like to introduce a new transfer student. His family just moved here because of his father's job, so please be nice to him, ne?"

The brunet standing next to the teacher has an almost bored expression on his face, as if he's gone through this situation many times before. Bowing low, he introduces himself, saying, "Ohayou. Watashi wa Sawada Tsunayoshi desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

Tsuna's gaze rakes over the entire class as he says this, as if he's searching for someone, but then he lets out a (barely audible) disappointed little sigh, not having found who he was looking for.

Lately, every time he moves to a new neighborhood, every time he goes somewhere new, he's taken up the habit of looking for _them_.

Who exactly are they?

Not even Tsuna really knows.

All he knows is their first names, and that, if his new tutor, the so-called greatest hitman in the world, is to be believed, they are fated to be his "guardians" for the mafia Family he is suddenly the heir of. Of course he'd laughed it off, thinking the kid was just playing pretend…that hadn't been such a bright idea.

Now he's nursing multiple bruises.

How absolutely wonderful.

* * *

The day drags on forever, but finally, Tsuna is allowed to go home.

When he gets there, his tutor is already waiting to torture him. But before long, the "tutoring" is over for the day, and Tsuna can finally go to sleep.

With an expectant smile on his face, he lays his head down and closes his eyes.

Soon enough, he's sleeping, dreaming.

_Tsuna opens his eyes and looks around the familiar, sun-dappled meadow, completely surrounded by tall trees, the floor a carpet of beautiful flowers of every colour of the rainbow, giving off a heady aroma that made one feel light-headed._

_And in the middle of that field is a circle of seven people, a gap among them leaving room for one more._

"_Ohayou, minna-san!" shouts Tsuna as he runs up to join them, plopping down in his seat by Hayato and Takeshi._

"_Hey, Tsuna!" they greet him in unison, and before Hayato can start a one-sided argument with the other, Takeshi says, "You started at a new school today, didn't you? How did it go?"_

_And suddenly, everyone is staring at Tsuna, intent, and the brunet shrugs nonchalantly. "The same as always," he replies. "Didn't meet anyone interesting. Still looking for you guys. Oh! But I did get a new tutor! And get this! I'm supposed to be like the leader of some mafia family or something!"_

"_Ahaha! No way! That's so cool!" laughs Takeshi._

"_I think you'd make an amazing boss, Tsuna!" says Hayato, a sweet smile on his face that he never directs at anyone but at Tsuna. "I'm part of the mafia too, you know!"_

"_Ah! Me too! Me too! Lambo-sama is a part of the mafia too!" shouts their youngest member, jumping up and down in childish excitement. _

_The boy had started joining them in their nightly meetings as recently as a year ago. Before he'd come, they'd always left a place in the circle empty, not knowing why, but when he'd finally taken that place, it was as if their group was complete._

_No one understood, really, why they all showed up here, every night without fail, but none of them were complaining. They all enjoyed their time together and cared for each other._

"_You're in the mafia, Lambo?" asks Tsuna, concerned. It never occurs to him that Lambo might be lying, because that simply isn't possible. No one can lie, here in this meadow. It's simply not possible._

"_Hai!" shouts the energetic five-year-old._

_And the conversation goes on in that vein for a while before the group switches to another topic. And by the time it's time for him to say goodbye, it feels to Tsuna like these past few hours have gone by far too quickly._

When Tsuna groggily opens his eyes to find early morning light leaking in through the crack in his curtains, he frowns in disappointment because he's just remembered that again, tonight, he's forgotten to ask them those vital questions.

Every night, Tsuna goes to sleep with the intention of asking his friends who they are, where they live, what school they go to, but it never happens.

There's something about that meadow…something that just doesn't allow him to ask. Even tonight, when he was talking about being the heir to a mafia family, no one had asked which one, and no one had asked about his new tutor either.

Even when Lambo had mentioned that he was a part of the mafia, Tsuna should have wondered what mafia family would have a kid as a member, he should have wondered how Lambo's parents could have allowed that, but the thought hadn't even crossed his mind.

There was something strange about that meadow, but it wasn't harmful in any way.

The only thing Tsuna didn't like about it was the feeling when he had to leave his friends.

If only he knew them in real life…then he would never have to say goodbye again.

* * *

SkyGem: Wow, it's been a while since I've written in present-tense…it's a little weird…but then again, this whole fic is weird XD. Anyways, please do leave a review and let me know what you thought, ne? Ciao!


	2. Storm, Rain, and Cloud

SkyGem: Hey all! Thanks so much for your reviews on the previous chapter! Anyways, I know some of you are disappointed that this is only a two-shot, since it does indeed seem like it could be a multi-chapter, so here's what I'll do. Since I can't continue this, I'll put the summary in my plot dump on my blog (the link is in profile). Whoever wants to adopt the summary can. Okay? Anyways, here's the next chapter of this fanfic. I hope you like it.

* * *

Tsuna is on his way to school, Reborn sitting on his head, when it happens.

The brunet suddenly feels something shaped suspiciously like Reborn's foot on the back of his head, pushing him forward a few feet, knocking him to the ground, and a second later, there's a small explosion where he had been standing previously, kicking up dust everywhere.

Bringing his hand up to cover his mouth as he coughs, the brunet looks up at his attacker, and is shocked when he sees a _very_ familiar teen with messy silver hair and angry, sea green eyes.

"I can't accept it," growls the boy, "I can't accept that someone as small and weak-looking as you is going to be the Vongola Juudaime!"

And without another word, the boy takes out a dynamite and is about to light it using his cigarette, when Tsuna interrupts him, shouting, "W-wait, Hayato! Y-you're Hayato, aren't you?"

These words stop Hayato in his tracks, his eyes wide as he stares at the person in front of him. For the first time, he takes a good look at the brunet's face, and reels back in shock at what he sees there.

"T-Tsuna?" asks Hayato, his voice disbelieving, and Tsuna suddenly feels as if he'll explode from the joy that's rushing through him.

Quickly getting to his feet, the brunet throws his arms around his friend, and says, "I can't believe it's really you, Hayato!"

"T-Tsuna's…the Vongola Juudaime?" asks Hayato in a shocked voice, his expression dazed. Then, after a moment of silence, "…I apologize for my rudeness!" shouts the silveret, getting on his knees and bowing to Tsuna several times, knocking his forehead on the floor each time.

And by the time Tsuna can get him to stop, the skin on his forehead is scraped and bleeding slightly.

Once Hayato has gotten up off the floor, he's fussing over Tsuna.

"Are you okay, Juudaime?" he asks in a worried voice. "Did I injure you? Are you bleeding anywhere? Are there any broken bones? I don't deserve to be your subordinate!"

"Hayato!" shouts Tsuna suddenly, cutting off his friend's panicked words and causing him to look at him through tearful eyes. "I'm fine. And of course I don't consider you my subordinate."

When he says this, Hayato's eyes widen, and he looks absolutely devastated.

"I don't consider you my subordinate because you're my friend, Hayato. We're both equals, okay?"

Hayato stares at him in awe when he says this, and the boy's eyes suddenly start tearing up again.

"I don't deserve your kindness, Juudaime!"

* * *

When Takeshi bursts into the classroom, breathless, the teacher is in the middle of introducing a new student to the class.

Upon his interruption, everyone except the new student turns to stare at Takeshi, and before the teacher even has time to ask why he's late, Takeshi is already apologizing.

"I'm sorry, sensei! I was absent yesterday because I went with my dad to visit my mom's grave, and we were up really late last night for personal reasons, so I kind of overslept, which is why I'm late!"

After he says this, Takeshi lets out a little laugh, and suddenly, the transfer student's head whips around to look at him, and he realizes that he recognizes the boy.

"H-Hayato?" stutters out Takeshi, shocked, "W-what are you doing here?"

The boy, Hayato, just stares at him dumbly for a moment before raising his hand and pointing to one of the students and says, "I'm here for Juudaime."

Takeshi looks in the direction he's pointing, and sees a shocked Tsuna staring back at him.

After a few moments more of staring, Tsuna's mouth stretches into a smile and he waves hello, saying, "Good to see you, Takeshi-kun!"

"W-when did you get here?" asks Takeshi, feeling a kind of fierce joy bubbling up inside of him.

"I transferred here yesterday," answers Tsuna.

Before the two can continue their conversation, the teacher interrupts, and Takeshi is forced to go to his seat and wait until lunch time to get an explanation from his friends.

Classes seem to drag on forever until finally, the bell rings and Takeshi and Hayato both jump out of their seats and make their way to where Tsuna is.

And the first thing Takeshi does when he gets there is throw his arms around Tsuna in a bone-crushing hug.

"I can't believe it's you guys!" he says as he lets go of Tsuna, and is about to tackle Hayato as well, but seems to think better of it when the silveret sends him a fierce glare. "What are you doing here?" he asks again.

"I transferred here yesterday because of my father's job," explains Tsuna matter-of-factly.

"And I'm here because I'm a part of the mafia Family that Tsuna-sama is now the Juudaime of."

"No way! That's so cool! Can I be part of Tsuna's family too?"

* * *

The three are on their way home when the sound of fighting catches their attention.

Catching his friends' confused looks, Takeshi smiles and says, "That's our disciplinary committee leader, Hibari Kyoya-sempai. He's probably beating up some delinquents."

Tsuna perks up when he hears this and asks, "Kyoya?"

Takeshi just shrugs in answer, saying, "When I first heard of him last year, I thought it may be him, but no matter what I do, I can never get close enough to him to find out. He's always "biting people to death". And when he's fighting, he's moving too fast for me to see his face so…"

Making a quick second decision, Tsuna grabs his friends' hands and pulls them in the direction of the fighting, saying, "Let's just take a quick look."

By the time the three first years arrive at the scene of the fighting, all noise has come to a stop, and there are five delinquents lying on the ground, unconscious.

In the midst of those delinquents, one sempai is standing, completely unruffled, showing no signs of being involved in the fight, except for the tonfas he is holding in each hand, both spattered in blood.

The older male is facing the other way, but it doesn't take long for him to notice them, and when he does, he turns and rushes at the three of them, ready to beat them to bloody pulps.

When he sees just who is standing there, though, Hibari Kyoya freezes where he is, his eyes widening a fraction.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Kyoya!" shouts Tsuna suddenly, breaking the stalemate as he throws himself at the still frozen skylark. "It really is you!" he says, still hugging the older male. "First Hayato, then Takeshi, and now you too? This is the BEST. DAY. EVER!"

"Hey! I want a hug too!" shouts Takeshi, running over to tackle both boys to the floor where he proceeds to cuddle the still-in-shock Kyoya and the uber hyper Tsunayoshi.

Hayato walks over cautiously but doesn't join the three on the floor until Tsuna and Takeshi both take hold of one of his hands and pulls him down to join them.

Try as he might, the silveret is unable to get himself free of his two friends, and in the end gives up.

For all of three minutes, the only sounds to break the silence are the pained groans of the beat-up delinquents.

When Kyoya finally comes out of his shock, he growls, "If you do not want to be bitten to death, you are going to get off of me in three…two…one…"

* * *

SkyGem: Lolol, well, there's the first three guardians, and since this was starting to get a bit long, I decided to break this chapter into two parts…lol, I really should stop letting my ideas get the better of me…from one-shot to two-shot to three-shot…I just hope this doesn't become an all-out multi-chap fic…Anyways, please do leave a review and I'll have the last chapter up shortly! Ciao!


	3. Lightning, Sun, and Mists

"REBORN!" shouts Tsuna when the infant sets off another bomb. "Where in the world is there a home tutor who uses bombs whenever a student makes a mistake?"

"Right here," answers the baby from hell, an absurdly angelic smile on his face. "This is how I do it."

"That's definitely wrong!" shouts the boy.

"You said you were going to study hard for your test to raise your allowance," Reborn tells him, raising an eyebrow as if to say, 'Have you changed your mind?'

"At this rate, before my allowance rises, I'll rise to heaven!" counters Tsuna, trying to make the arcobaleno to see reason.

When he sees that Reborn isn't paying attention, Tsuna lets out a huff of frustration and turns to stare out the window, only to see a sight that makes his eyes bulge.

"What the…?" he asks, rubbing at his eyes to make sure he's seeing properly. When he looks again, the scene is still the same; a five-year-old in a cow suit and cow horns sticking out of either side of his afro is sitting on the tree outside his window.

"Well, I'll review what we did now," says Reborn, as if he hasn't noticed the presence of the cow-clad child, even though he most definitely has.

"Die, Reborn!" shouts the boy, pointing a gun at his target and not even noticing Tsuna staring at him with his mouth gaping.

"First, the target is going to be this number," states Reborn, completely ignoring the gun aimed at his head, but Tsuna isn't listening to his tutor.

Getting up from where he's sitting on the ground, Tsuna heads towards the window, calling out, "Lambo! Get down from there!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Lambo's head whips around to look at the person he hadn't even noticed in the same room as his target, and his eyes widen as the gun drops from his limp hands.

"T-Tsuna…nii…?" he asks in a shocked voice, and Reborn finally stops ignoring him to look suspiciously at Tsuna.

"That's right," says Tsuna, a worried expression on his face, "So can you please get out of that tree? You'll get hurt."

"…"

Lambo is dead silent, staring at Tsuna with a shocked expression on his face.

Tsuna takes another step forward, thinking to reach out and pull Lambo into his arms, when Lambo finally snaps out of his shock and throws himself at Tsuna.

"TSUNA-NII!" he shouts, clinging onto Tsuna as if his life depends on it, any thoughts of killing Reborn having fled from his mind.

"H-hey, Lambo," replies Tsuna in a much quieter voice, rubbing Lambo's back as the boy starts to shake, his tears soaking through Tsuna's shirt.

"Waah, Tsuna-nii! L-Lambo-sama is s-so glad to see y-you!"

* * *

Tsuna has been a student of Nami-chuu for almost a month when it happens.

They get a new transfer student.

As everyone else whispers about how odd it is that they've been having so many transfers lately, Tsuna just sits back in his chair, his head resting on the desk behind his, which just so happens to be Hayato's.

"I wonder who the new transfer student is?" asks Tsuna of the upside down Hayato (at least, he's upside down from Tsuna's point of view).

Hayato just shrugs and says in a joking voice, "Imagine it was another of us?"

Tsuna laughs this off, saying, "No way, that would be too coincidental! Anyways, the other three are older than us, aren't they?"

Hayato shrugs nonchalantly. "Maybe the pineapple head got held back?" he asks. "Knowing him, that could probably happen."

A little crease forms between Tsuna's eyebrows and he's about to reprimand his guardian and best friend for insulting another of their friends, but decides to change the subject, asking him, "Hey, what do you think about the student exchange program with Kokuyo?"

The silveret snorts, saying, "I think it's rather stupid. Why do an exchange with a school that's only an hour away from ours?"

"Really?" asks Tsuna. "I think it sounds fun! We wouldn't have to do any work for our classes, and we could see how their school works! I heard it's very different from Nami-chuu!"

Hayato lets out a grunt, acknowledging that point, and he's about to say something, but the teacher comes in, and they have to stop talking to pay attention.

The teacher soon introduces the transfer student; a pretty girl with shoulder length, brownish-orange hair, and wide, innocent brown eyes. When she smiles at the class, the majority of the boys melt at the sight, and even the girls seem to be in awe.

"Konnichiwa," she says in a chipper voice, "Watashi wa Sasagawa Kyoko desu! Hajimemashite!"

Tsuna, who had been somewhat smitten at the sight of her, suddenly jerks violently at the name.

He looks over at Takeshi out of the corner of his eye, and the boy's shocked expression tells him that he's come to the same conclusion.

Hayato's feather light touch on his shoulder tells him that the bomber is also thinking the same thing, and as Tsuna studies the new girl carefully, his rather hopeful mind starts picking up small similarities between her and his friend Ryohei. The boy had mentioned a younger sister named Kyoko once, and the surname was correct.

Could it really be that they had found another part of their group?

As Kyoko goes to sit in her seat, Tsuna begins fidgeting, wanting to ask her about her brother, but knowing he wouldn't be able to until lunch.

When lunch finally rolls around, he and Hayato and Takeshi immediately make their way over to the girl's desk, ignoring the glares of the other guys who were too nervous to approach her.

"Ohayou, Sasagawa-chan," says Tsuna in a friendly voice, and Kyoko looks up at him and his friends curiously. "I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi, and these are my friends, Gokudera Hayato and Yamamoto Takeshi," says Tsuna, introducing himself and his friends, "We're sorry to bother you but…you wouldn't happen to have an older brother named Ryohei…would you?"

Kyoko's expression becomes surprised at this, and she asks, "Do you know my onii-chan?"

Tsuna almost forgets how to breathe when she says this, and a wide smile breaks onto Takeshi's face.

"Of course we do!" says the cheerful baseball player, "We're really close friends of his! He wouldn't happen to have transferred here as well…would he?"

And then, almost as if their conversation has summoned him, they all hear a faint but growing louder by the second, "EXTREME!" accompanied by the sound of running footsteps.

The footsteps stop right outside their classroom door, and a second later, one Sasagawa Ryohei steps into the room, looking around for his sister.

When his eyes land on the three boys standing by her desk, for just a second, his eyebrows draw together in disapproval, but then he recognizes the guys, and his entire expression lights up.

"Sawada!" he shouts. "It's you to the EXTREME! And Takeshi and tako head are here as well! EXTREME!"

"Onii-san!" shouts Tsuna in reply, both him and Takeshi dragging Hayato along to recreate the scene from when they had first met Kyoya in real life.

* * *

Even a week after Ryohei has transferred to Nami-chuu, Tsuna is still acting as if he's on a sugar high.

He's so preoccupied with his own happiness that he's completely forgotten that it's the day for the Kokuyo-chuu students to come to their school until one of the military-style-uniform-clad students enters the class following one of his classmates closely.

Tsuna watches curiously as the student takes as seat beside their partner, and feels just a little regretful that he hadn't signed up.

Before he can regret it too much, though, he hears a faint, "EXTREME!" from somewhere else in the building, and he can't help but wonder what's got his onii-san so excited.

It isn't until lunch time, though, that Tsuna finds out.

The bell has just rung a few minutes ago, and Tsuna and his two best friends are debating whether or not to go to Ryohei's classroom, when a familiar, creepy laugh fills the classroom.

"Kufufufu, look what we have here, my dear Chrome," says a familiar voice, and Tsuna's head snaps towards the source to find...nothing?"

As he continues staring, though, a thick mist starts to form, and a girl's voice can be heard saying, "Mukuro-nii…stop teasing them…"

And then, only seconds later, the mist begins to dissipate, and two forms emerge; the pineapple head twins.

"M-Mukuro-kun? Chrome-chan?" asks Takeshi, his voice shocked, as Tsuna stares speechlessly.

"Ohayou!" says an unusually cheerful Chrome, glomping Tsuna.

"Are you guys happy to see us?" asks Mukuro, just as cheerfully as he also glomps Tsuna. "You told us that you were a mafia boss before, right? Well, since we figured that there couldn't be that many up and coming teenage mafia bosses in Japan, when we found out that the Vongola Juudaime was a student at Nami-chuu, we guessed it was you!" he explained, and then his sister took over.

"So when we found out about the exchange program, we immediately signed up! And we were placed with one of Ryohei's classmates!"

It takes Takeshi approximately another ten seconds to come out of his shock, and Hayato, having already guess what was about to happen, tries to get away, but Takeshi, with the skill of an athlete, is able to catch his wrist.

Another second later, Tsuna is at the middle of his third group hug that month, and Lambo has suddenly appeared out of nowhere, wiggling his way into Tsuna's arms.

Ryohei appears not long after, looking for his friends, and when he sees the group hug, he decides he wants to join in, yelling "EXTREME!" as he does so.

And only a few seconds after he's wrapped his arms around the twins, Kyoya appears in the hallway to see what all the noise is.

Hayato, being the closest to him, glares at him and whips his hand out, managing to catch the skylark's wrist and pulling him over, growling out, "If I have to be a part of this, then so do you!"

And before they've even realized it, their entire group is finally there, together; not in a meadow in some dream, but in real life, and it finally feels like they're one hundred percent complete

* * *

_**The End**_

* * *

SkyGem: Well, that's the end of this three-shot! Lol, I hope y'all liked it, ne? Please do leave a review letting me know what you thought, and I'll do my best to upload Natsu's chapter of "Being Human" tomorrow!


End file.
